Retired OPP officer jailed for Cambridge car crash

[Thomas]

Retired OPP officer jailed for Cambridge car crash after drinking

KITCHENER — A retired police officer went to jail Friday for almost killing a woman in a head-on crash after he had been drinking.

Paul Thompson, 69, received a four-month sentence despite suggestions the March 2013 crash in a rural area of Cambridge was caused by a medical condition, not alcohol.

"A message has to be sent out to the community at large," said Justice John Lynch.

There was no doubt Thompson, who worked for the OPP for three decades, had been drinking when his Cadillac drifted into oncoming traffic on a sunny afternoon.

Based on a blood analysis, an expert estimated he had up to almost twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system when he hit an SUV driven by Betty Ann Brown on Kossuth Road near Beaverdale Road.

But defence lawyer Mark Parrott submitted a medical report indicating Thompson had been having a series of small strokes in the weeks before and may have blacked out due to another one that day.

The result was no definite causal connection between Thompson's drinking and the crash, which required the extrication of both drivers from their mangled vehicles.

The specific crime Thompson admitted — causing bodily harm while driving with more than the legal limit of alcohol in his system — also made no causal link.

Lynch said that made it a particularly difficult sentencing, with Parrott arguing for no jail and Crown prosecutor Simon McNaughton seeking up to a year behind bars.

"I can't be blind to the medical information before me," Lynch said.

On the other hand, the judge noted Thompson clearly had too much to drink and, as a former OPP officer, should have been acutely aware of the dangers.

Also weighing heavily in his decision were permanent, life-changing injuries to Brown, 63, a former Cambridge nurse who was initially given only a 50-50 chance of survival by doctors.

Thompson stood with difficulty as Lynch imposed the four-month jail term, showing little emotion as his wife and daughter looked on in Kitchener court.

Earlier, he had choked up while giving an apology, saying he would gladly trade places with Brown if he could.

"I spent 30 years of my life helping people, not hurting them," Thompson said.

Outside court, supported by about a dozen friends and relatives, Brown doubted a stroke was to blame for the crash, but said she didn't "feel any joy" at seeing Thompson taken into custody.

Walking with a cane after nine months in hospital and numerous surgeries for broken bones and internal injuries, she said she hopes the case serves as a warning to people who still drink and drive.

"Please, don't," Brown said. "Please, please, please."

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/525 ... -drinking/

http://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/ ... -drinking/

[Thomas]

Prison sentence for retired cop over crash that left woman badly hurt

A retired OPP officer admitted in court Friday to drinking before getting behind the wheel of his vehicle, and then causing a crash that left a Cambridge woman seriously hurt.

Paul Thompson, 69, was found guilty of causing bodily harm and of driving over the legal blood-alcohol limit.

He admitted to having had two alcoholic drinks before getting in his Cadillac on March 26, 2013.

While driving down Kossuth Road, Thompson’s vehicle crashed head-on into a vehicle being driven by Betty Ann Brown.

It’s not clear if alcohol or a medical event was to blame for the Cadillac veering over to the other side of the road.

An air ambulance was called in to transport Brown to a Hamilton hospital.

“It was an extremely serious situation. I was told that she may not make it,” husband Gord Brown told CTV News after the sentencing.

“You can’t imagine what kind of a black hole that puts you into, emotionally.”

Prior to being sentenced to four months in prison, Thompson apologized to Brown and her family.

“I have spent 30 years of my life helping people, not hurting them,” he said.

“I am sorry this happened and I will live with the consequences for the rest of my life.”

Gord Brown said he had been hoping to see a harsher sentence.

“It needed to send a message to everyone else that’s out there that might do the same thing,” he said.

http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/prison-sent ... -1.2181579